


Possessed revenge (Rewrite)

by Blazetwin88



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: And I mean like, And he might need therapy after this, Cole messes up at first, Depressing Thoughts, I'm bad at tags, Jay is obsessed with pranking people, Kai has a temper, Kai has self-esteem issues, Kai is Bisexual, Kai will do anything to protect his family, Kidnapping, Lloyd hates Morro, More characters and relationships will be added later, Morro becomes a bit obsessed in later chapters, Morro is not super obsessed with becoming the green ninja, Morro's an asshole, Not in a romantic way, Possession, Psychological Torture, Scars, Stabbing, Torture, Wu comes back after a while, Wu is not home to stop shit from going down, Zane is Zane, and he regrets it later, but a bit too late to stop shit from happening, creepily obsessed with Kai, he loves knowing he can control the brunet, he needs a hug, kai swears a lot, more like, still bad at tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26792617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blazetwin88/pseuds/Blazetwin88
Summary: (The original version is only available on my Wattpad account by the same name as this account. Blazetwin88. You don't have to read it to understand this book)Words have more power than people realize.They can tear a family apart.Make someone lose all hope.And even have someone change who they are as a person.But Cole failed to realize that the words he said to Kai would start a forest fire that none of the ninjas knew how to stop. Now they all have to find their missing fire master before his kidnapper finds the right words to break him.
Relationships: Lloyd Garmadon/Kai
Comments: 25
Kudos: 65





	1. Be careful of what you say

The stars twinkled on the dark night sky that hung over Ninjago. The land was lit up with lights from all kinds of sources, houses, cities, campfires, streetlamps, and......rocket engines?

What?

Wait, that's right! It was just the engines to the bounty. The headquarters to Ninjago's beloved heroes, the ninjas. Why not see what the group of heroes are up to this calm evening.

The ninjas were all hanging out in their living room, all invested in their own activities. Cole, master of earth, was trying to beat the nindroid, Zane, at chess, which was going as good as one would expect.

Nya and Jay, the water and lightning masters, were both enjoying their favorite movie which just happened to have been playing that evening.

The team's hotheaded brunet and the green ninja himself were sitting on the floor, their backs resting against the wall, and were chatting with each other about different topics that crossed their minds.

One might question where their wise sensei was at, and it was easily answered as he was on a little trip, although the ninjas didn't know for what purpose.

It had been rather quiet with crimes and stuff lately, but the team of teenagers didn't mind one bit, or at least most of them didn't. Kai, the master of fire, got impatient by the lack of criminals to beat up already on the first day, but him being him, that hadn't come as a surprise to him or his teammates.

The quiet calm atmosphere was broken as the black ninja violently stood up, knocking the chair over as he did. "WHAT!? Zane are you cheating or something!? This is ridiculous!"

His loud voice had grabbed the attention of the other four not involved in the game, but the two watching a movie lost interest pretty quickly. Kai and Lloyd both got up and walked up to the black and white pair.

"What's got you so worked up there boulderbrain?" The fire master smirked, earning a glare from the referred teammate, to which the brunet's smirk only grew.

"It seems like Cole is accusing me of cheating just because the score is currently, 30 to 0 in my favor." The nindroid stated, "Although I don't see how he expected to win against me seeing as I'm almost literally a computer."

"Computers can lose to humans too, Zane," Cole argued back.

"Yeah, to humans that don't have boulder brains."

Cole shot another glare at the fire ninja who just smirked back, "Shut your mouth before I shut it myself. I'm not in the mood for your bullshit, Kai."

Crimson eyes narrowed at the black ninja, "If you even try to do that then I'll burn you to a crisp."

"I'd like to see you try."

Lloyd laughed nervously, "Guys, maybe we should just drop this."

Both ignored him.

"You think I can't turn you into ashes if I wanted to? You underestimate me, Coley."

"Oh am I? Then how about you prove just how wrong I am."

Embers started to spark in the brunet's hands and the green ninja then realized this was getting out of hand. "Guys settle do-"

"You're so dead!" Kai charged forward, the black-haired ninja just barely dodging a punch. He sent one back but his was dodged as well.

"Guys!"

Once again, the blond was ignored. The fire ninja's hands were starting to become covered in flames and the way Cole's eyes were narrowing, it was easy to say this "argument" of theirs was getting out of hand quickly.

"It's too bad this ruined you little bromance moment with Zane, Coley. It looked like you were having fun." That was the last straw for the earth master. He practically lunged forward, fist directed towards Kai who narrowly dodged.

And the reaction somehow only fueled the brunet's anger as flames now covered his entire palms. "What? Is mister dancy pants getting angry?"

"Fuck off you failure of a blacksmith!"

And that's when things got really out of control.

In the span of a few seconds, the red ninja was shouting rather "colorful" words at the black ninja who returned them with almost as much anger and bitterness as the ones he received.

"WELL, MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT YOUR FUCKING DANCE SCHOOL!"

"YOU KNOW VERY WELL IT WASN'T MY THING!"

"RIGHT, IT WAS YOUR FATHER WHO SENT YOU THERE TO WALK IN HIS FUCKING FOOTSTEPS!!"

"WELL, AT LEAST I HAVE A FATHER!"

Time stopped and everyone's breaths got caught in their throats. It took Cole a moment to realize what he had just said, but when he did, the damage was already done.

Kai stared at him, hands no longer burning and eyes starting to gloss over. He began to tremble and clenched his fists hard, digging his nails into the skin of his palms.

"Kai.....I'm sorry, I didn't-" He didn't get to finish before the brunet was out the door, with Nya running after him.

Cole was at a loss of words. He felt incredibly guilty over the situation. He had just dropped a bomb that the whole team knew was unacceptable to drop around the Smith siblings, Kai especially.

Their parents were a difficult and very sensitive subject for the hothead, more so than for his sister who didn't remember much about them.

Cole went too far.

**With Kai**

With a war cry, burning fists were slammed onto the stone cliff and left the red ninja panting from all the energy his anger was taking from him. Red flames danced around his hands, illuminating his face with the flickering red color it gave off.

Feeling another wave of rage, eyes closed tightly and teeth gritted against each other before it became too much and the red ninja let out yet another angry scream and punched the cliff under him, leaving burn marks on the stone this time.

"Wow, I knew you were a hothead, but this is just too amusing."

His crimson eyes shot open and his breath got caught in his throat. That voice, he would never forget that voice. The red ninja got up and turned around, unsure if he should be scared or relieved when he couldn't see the owner of the voice. Was it just in my head?

"Ohoh, I assure you, hothead, I am very much real."

"If that's the case then how about you stop being a coward and show yourself!?" He had to contact the others, as fast as possible. Going with the theory that they were in front of him, Kai tried to take out his cellphone in the most secretive way he could.

But as he was trying to scroll through his contacts after one of his teammates' number behind his back, something grabbed his wrist and pinned it to his back, and then pushed it upward, earning a grunt of pain from the ninja and forcing him to let go of the device.

"It's not very nice to try and invite others when I want to spend some time alone with you, Kai. Haven't you been taught manners?" A shiver went up the brunet's spine as the other male whispered in his ear.

He tried to wriggle his way out of the ghost's grip, surprised at how hard of a grip he had considering the whole ghost part. When he found it impossible to get away from the spirit, the ninja let out a sigh and growled, "Let me go.....Morro."

"I knew you'd recognize my voice hothead, after all, you and I did have rather many encounters, didn't we?"

"I'm not going to say it again. Let. Me. Go!"

"Alright, fine!" The ghost released his grip on the brunet's arm and then appeared floating in front of the ninja, wearing a wide smirk, a far too confident one in the ninja's opinion. And he was holding Kai's phone, which only made the brunet angrier.

"Okay, firstly, give me my fucking phone, and secondly, what the fuck do you want?"

"Geez, what language you got there, hothead. Might wanna do something about that."

"Stop playing games, Morro! Give me my phone!"

"Aww, why do you want this so badly?" Morro changed his floating position, appearing to sit in the air as he studied the cell phone for a moment before turning back to Kai, "Is it so you can call for your little "friends" to come and help you, or more accurately, to get rid of me?"

"I don't need their help to get rid of you."

"Doesn't look that way with how quickly I got you into a vulnerable position just moments ago, you should be happy I'm in a good enough mood to be reasonable. Besides, it's much more fun seeing your face." He spun around, now hanging upside down and smirking at the ninja, "your face is really not looking too bad there, hothead. I'm almost sad I never noticed it before."

"Is it just me or are you even more twisted now than you were last time I saw you?"

"Maybe, maybe not, it doesn't really matter. But, getting back on track, you asked me why I'm here. Which makes me wonder, aren't you curious to how I'm still alive?"

"Well, yeah, but I figured that wasn't the most important question to ask at the moment, seeing as you're already back."

"Smart move, more so coming from you."

"I hate you."

Spinning around in the air so he no longer was upside down, Morro pretended to be offended by the ninja's words, "That wasn't very kind of you, Kai, and here I thought you were a hero."

"Just because I'm a hero doesn't mean I have to be kind to villains like yourself."

"Ah ah ah, Kai. I think you're forgetting one itsy bitsy tiny detail there." The ghost grinned, only making the ninja more uncomfortable with the situation.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"You're not far from being a villain yourself. Just like me."

"That's not true! I'm not like you, I never was and never will be! We're nothing alike!"

Morro laughed, "Wow, you're really blind, aren't you? But for now, you can live in that fantasy of yours, it'll just make it funnier to break you."

The brunet took a slight step back, "You never answered my question earlier. Why are you here?"

"Yeah, I didn't, but if you want to know so badly, then fine, I'll tell you." Morro then disappeared for a moment, only to reappear behind the brunet once again, putting the ninja in the same grip as he did earlier, making Kai grunt in pain as his arm was once again twisted behind his back. "It's just too bad I need someone else to be included in this part of the conversation, I was enjoying it just being us two."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Kai could see Morro dialing Lloyd's number on his phone and suddenly the puzzle pieces started to fall into place.

** Back with Lloyd **

The green ninja was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, worried out of his mind for his best friend who still hadn't come back. The blond had the sinking feeling that something had happened to Kai, but he tried to ignore it as an overreaction, but for every passing minute, that was getting harder to do.

Suddenly his room lit up by his phone screen and the silence of the night was broken by a familiar ringtone. Kai's ringtone.

Lloyd practically jumped off his bed and quickly grabbed his phone, answering the call and placing the device by his ear, "Kai?! Where are you? We've all been really worried and-"

"Sorry, Lloyd, but the hothead can't talk right now. I'm free though, I can give him a message if you want."

Lloyd's body froze at the voice, he would never forget who it belonged to and what that person had done, but the fact that they were answering Kai's phone.......please no

"Where is Kai?"

"Wow, not even a "how are you alive?" just "where is Kai"? You really hurt my feelings, Lloyd."

"I'm not asking again, where is he?"

"Chill, he's here with me, so no need to worry about him."

"Him being with you is what worries me!"

"Oh right, for a moment I almost forgot how much you hate me."

"Hate is an understatement, you freak! I swear if you hurt him I'm going to kill you."

"Umm, a bit too late for that. I'm a ghost, remember?"

After a moment of silence, the green ninja spoke up, in the calmest tone he could manage considering the current situation, "I wanna talk to him."

"And what makes you think you can demand things from me?"

"....I can't believe I'm saying this..... Please, Morro, let me talk to him."

Morro didn't respond for a few moments, the silence starting to feel like it was crushing the green ninja.

"Lloyd..." Judging by the way the word seemed to have been forced out, it was clear that the owner of the voice was in pain. And the fact that the green ninja knew that voice only made that fact worse.

"Kai! Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, Greenie, I'm fine for now. Just having my arm twisted behind my back, nothing major."

"Where are you right now? Just tell me and we'll come to help you immediately."

Muffled sounds came from the other end and then Morro spoke up again, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Lloyd. You see, I want revenge, and unfortunately for the hothead here, I need him for that."

"Why would you need him to get revenge on me?! He has nothing to do with this!"

"Do you think I'm an idiot, or are you just that dense? Because if I'm not mistaken, Kai here helped save you more than the other ninjas did. Besides," Lloyd could hear in Morro's voice that he was smirking, which made him have a bad feeling about the next words that would come through the phone, "he means a lot more to you than most people do, doesn't he?"

Without meaning to, Lloyd fell silent after the words. No matter how much the green ninja wanted to say Morro was wrong, he couldn't, because he was right. Kai meant a lot to him, more than he would admit.

"Your silence only proves my point. So now I ask you, Lloyd, do you really think I would pass up the opportunity to get revenge on not just the entire ninja team, but also the two people who ruined my plans countless times, all by letting the hothead go?"

".....Knowing you?......No.....you wouldn't....."

"That's what I thought." Those words followed by the beeping tone that meant the call had ended was what echoed in the green ninja's head the following minutes that he spent in shock before he realized the others should be informed about the situation.

He called for the other from the control room, and it didn't take long before they came into the room. As their eyes fell on the terror visible on Lloyd's face, they grew concerned.

"Lloyd, what's wr-"

"Morro's back." Their eyes widened, not only thanks to the words, but also how bluntly they were spoken. Lloyd had been terrified of the ghost to come back, so why was he not freaking out?

"I'm surprised you're so calm about this."

"Calm is far from the word I'd use to describe how I'm feeling, especially seeing as.....Morro has kidnapped Kai."

And that was when all ninjas froze while processing what they'd just been told. When it started to sink in, different reactions spread across the team. Zane looked worried, Jay started to freak out, Cole clenched his fists out of either anger or guilt, and Nya became a mix of all plus she started to cry.

Lloyd had nothing to say that could ease the situation. More so when he was just seconds away from losing his mind over it all.

In the end, Zane was the one to start to try and take action, "Nya, are there any specific spots where you think Kai might have gone to after he left earlier?"

The water ninja tried her best to speak, worry and anger making it hard, "When we were younger he often went to the forest near the blacksmith shop, mostly to punch his anger out without breaking people's things."

"He spent his entire life letting out anger through punching-"

"And throwing." She quickly added.

"-stuff?" Zane sighed, "Why am I not surprised?"


	2. Morro's not kind

As consciousness returned to him, the brunet couldn't help but let out a groan. His arms felt numb, and it took him a moment to realize that was because they were lifted over his head.

He turned his head, confusion blinding more important questions, to try and see why he couldn't lower his arms.

Crimson eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. Chains, shackled to his wrists, held his arms over his head and connected to a concrete wall. The chains went from his wrists, through an iron ring stuck to the wall and up towards the ceiling somewhere.

A sudden shiver went through him and it was then he noticed the lack of red on his arms. He looked down at his body, only to find the entire upper half of his gi missing, leaving half his body naked.

Alarms started to ring in his head and he started to try and remember what happened. The memory barely showed itself to him before a maniac laugh helped him remember all he needed to.

Morro stepped into his view, a sick grin plastered on his face. "Glad you're awake, Kai~"

Something about the way his name was said made the ninja shiver, turning his head away and closing his eyes in reflex as if it would make him wake up from whatever nightmare he was trapped in.

A hand suddenly grabbed his chin and turned his head, his eyes opening on instinct, making him stare right into the ghostly green eyes of his kidnapper. "Your eyes aren't as bad looking as I imagined in close range. They're honestly rather gorgeous."

Kai felt sick, but he remained silent, not exactly sure why.

"Nothing to say? No snarky comments? Where's all that fiery determination and anger you wear so perfectly?"

"It's still here, I just didn't feel like you deserved to hear it."

"Oh? And now I do?"

"Nope! But it didn't seem like you'd shut up unless I said something." Kai growled, anger burning through his terror and worry.

Morro laughed, "Oh! I should really have kidnapped you earlier, you're probably the funniest and most interesting person I've ever met."

Kai didn't know whether to feel flattered or disgusted, he settled for the latter.

"I'm glad you didn't. Although I would have been totally fine if you never kidnapped me at all."

The ghost chuckled and started to gently stroke the ninja's cheek with his thumb. Kai tried to turn his head away but Morro tightened the grip on his chin to hold his head in place. "You should maybe try to be more cooperative with me, hothead, otherwise it'll be worse for you.

"As if I'd do anything you want me to. Crawl back to whatever level of hell you come from and leave me alone."

Morro's eyes narrowed and he grabbed the brunet's face, hard, letting the stroking stop.

Kai groaned in pain and closed his eyes tightly, Morro only tightened his grip. "You should already understand that I'm in control of you. You're my prisoner, Kai. The quicker you accept that, the easier this will be for both of us."

"What?" He opened his eyes to give the other male a glare, "You want me to follow your orders? Bow to you? Fat chance."

The ninja let out a strangled noise as the hand holding his face instead grabbed his neck and lifted him slightly into the air. "As much as I love that feisty personality of yours I really need you to be obedient towards me, unless you want me to do this the hard way."

Kai forced a smirk, "Fuck.....you...."

Morro sighed before letting go of the ninja who started coughing, having lost his breath. The ghost walked out of view for a moment before returning, something held in his hand.

He grabbed Kai's chin again, lifting his head up as he started to regain his breath. "I'm not sorry that you choose to do this the hard way, Kai. But you're going to be."

The ninja had no time to respond before a small knife was stabbed into his left arm. He had no idea how he remained from screaming. Instead, he only sucked in a sharp breath through gritted teeth and groaned in pain.

"What's the matter, not gonna scream?"

"I'd rather die than give you the satisfaction."

"Too bad both of those things are gonna happen anyway."

"You're gonna kill me? What about all that obedient talk then?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna kill you, eventually. And I'm not lying about you following my orders. I have a plan and it requires that you either listen to me, or lose the determination to care, whatever happens first."

"As if I would ever let you control me in any way. You should just give up now and you might be spared from death when my friends find me."

Morro punched the ninja's stomach, making the brunet want to double over, but thanks to the chains, he couldn't. Kai groaned and hissed as he tried to regain his breath which had been knocked out of him.

The ghost just stared at him while he tried to recover from the blow. The ninja couldn't see Morro's face due to his head hanging while he tried to breathe, but he could feel the ghost smirking at him. It made him shiver.

When his breath finally returned to him and his coughing became heavy pants instead, his captor once again grabbed his chin and tilted his head upwards.

"It's too bad I'm gonna have to break your spirit for you to cooperate, I honestly find it rather enjoyable."

"Nothing you do will be enough to make me help you with anything."

"Oh, and here I thought villains should look out for each other."

"I'm not a villain! I'm nothing like you so stop saying that!"

Morro took a slight step closer, decreasing the distance between the males' faces. "Oh, is that so? Then what happened back on Chen's island with the staff?"

Kai's eyes widened, "That.....that wasn't me. I would never....."

"Oh, but it was you, as much as you hate admitting it. That was **your** thoughts and **your** jealousy that the staff showed. It was **your** lust for power that almost killed Lloyd."

Kai closed his eyes tightly, and turned his head away, trying to keep his expression cold. Morro smirked and let go of the ninja's chin, seeing past the ninja's attempt at appearing unaffected by the ghost's words.

"I'll leave you time to think about it." He then vanished into the dark, and it was only a while later when he knew the ghost was gone that Kai let his mask fall as he turned his head back forward.

What Morro said wasn't anything the brunet hadn't heard before. After all, he told himself those things, as well as other things, more often than he wanted to admit.

It was his fault that Lloyd almost got hurt that day. It was his thoughts that had driven him to almost killing the blond. It didn't matter whether or not the staff had amplified his thoughts and feelings, they were still his own.

He had caused so many problems for his teammates that he was surprised they hadn't kicked him off the team yet. He just held them back, got in the way.

Inconvenience

Burden

...

A liability.

Why didn't the others see that? Kai wasn't worth rescuing, wasn't worth their concern. He wasn't worth their love and care.

The only reason he stayed was that he needed to keep them safe. He was ready to do anything for any of them.

If he died protecting them he would be **happy**. Because him dying is nothing compared to if any of them died. They had purposes and other reasons to keep living.

He only had one. To protect them.

So that's what he'll do, even if it kills him, he will **never** let Morro hurt the others. All he needed to do was stay strong.

* * *

Lloyd soared through the sky on his dragon, his expression blank despite all the panic in his mind.

Morro had Kai, and was doing who knows what to him, all to get revenge. The thought terrified the blond to his core. _What if we can't save him in time? What if Morro....._ "No! He's going to be fine. We're going to save him."

"You sure about that, Lloyd?"

The green ninja stopped his dragon in mid-air, turning his head around to face the owner of the voice. Morro sat in the air smirking at the ninja.

"You! What have you done with Kai!?"

Chuckling, the ghost put his hands behind his head, "Wow, such accusations. What makes you think I've done anything to him?"

"Don't even try with that. I know you've kidnapped him."

"Ugh! Okay fine! Yes, I kidnapped your little "friend". Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Let him go, Morro, he's done nothing to deserve whatever you've done or going to do to him."

"I don't really agree with that, you know how many times Kai hindered my plans before. Besides, I'm rather confident he's gotten cockier since the last time I saw him. It can get tiring after a while."

"Have you hurt him?"

"Other than stabbing his arm, no, not yet."

Lloyd's eyes widened, "You stabbed his arm!?"

Morro chuckled, amusement entering his expression, "Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't scream when I did."

"You monster!"

"Aww, are you trying to hurt my feelings, because it won't work."

"Let him go, Morro. Take me instead, just don't do this to him."

The ghost chuckled, "And that right there is why I won't let him go. It hurts you more to know he's in pain than torturing you would. So why should I let him go free? There's no other reason for me to do that than if I were to suddenly not feel vengeful against the people who ruined everything for me but that's not gonna happen."

"You're sick!"

"Please, tell me something new."

"How about you and I land onto the ground so I can KICK YOUR ASS FOR EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE!!"

Morro frowns, "Kai's temper and word choice doesn't fit you, Lloyd."

Lloyd didn't respond to that, mostly because he couldn't find the strength to. Thinking about Kai hurt, even if he knew the fire ninja was safe for now since his captor was here, it still hurt.

"Did you just come here to taunt me?" He eventually asked, earning a grin from the ghost as an answer.

Morro said nothing as he vanished in a small green cloud of smoke, and suddenly the green ninja wanted to scream his lungs out. But he held himself, and instead turned on his communicator and contacted the others.

"Please tell me any of you found something."

A series of different versions of no and unfortunately followed, and now screaming was once again something he wanted to do.

"Morro showed up...... He came to me just to taunt me....." It felt worse when saying it out loud, but the others had the right to know.

It didn't take more than a minute before a growling of "That sick bastard" from Cole's end.

"Did he say anything important?" _What kind of question was that? As long as Morro had their fire ninja anything he said was important!_ But Lloyd knew what the nindroid meant, it was obvious. _"Did he mention if Kai was hurt in any way?"_

"He said he'd stabbed Kai's arm, but nothing else....."

The others fell quiet, and no one said anything until they came back to the bounty several hours later.

None of them had any lead on where Kai was.

And none of them got peaceful sleep that night.......some didn't even sleep at all.....


	3. What happened to him?

"Kai? You there?" The brunet flinched at the voice, opening his eyes and turning towards the ghost, as their eyes met, a growl rumbled in the human's throat.

"The fuck do you want now?"

With a roll of his eyes, the master of wind took a slight step towards the ninja, "Still going strong with the attitude, I see."

"What, you stabbed my arm and expected me to be nice to you, not to mention the fact that you kidnapped me? Fat chance."

Morro sighed, "Do you know why I kidnapped you instead of just killing you in that forest?"

"So you could torture me for your own amusement and to hurt the others." The ninja stated as if it was obvious.

"That's only part of the reason. I have another use for you. One that's much more exciting."

Kai raised an eyebrow, "Which is?"

But Morro just laughed, "Telling you would ruin the surprise, and that wouldn't be fun, now would it?"

"Your definition of fun is way different to mine, so I doubt anything you enjoy would be fun."

Morro laughed, "I guess I can see what makes you think that, Hotshot, but trust me, as a fellow villain I really think you'll enjoy this."

"STOP SAYING THAT! I'M NOT A VILLAIN!"

"You can tell yourself that all you want, Kai, but either you're a villain or you were just too weak to handle the staff's great power. And I doubt you like either of those options."

"Shut up," the ninja growled, but it didn't come out as threatening as it usually did.

"Why should I? It's the truth and you know it. There's no point trying to deny it." Morro walked a few steps forward, smirking wickedly when Kai turned his head away ever so slightly. "You and I are more alike than you want to admit, and you obviously see that, so why? Why do you keep trying to deny that you're not a hero."

"Shut up…."

"You're a villain, like me."

"Shut up."

"A force of destruction."

"Shut up!"

"A monster."

"JUST SHUT UP!" Blinded by rage, the brunet charged forward, trying to somehow attack the ghost. But as the chains violently reminded him that he was stuck here, he found himself being yanked back, crashing into the wall. A sharp pain went through his skull before his world went dark and the ninja went limb, only being held up by the chains stuck to his wrists.

Morro scoffed, somehow still sounding amused, "He's already close to breaking, how pathetic." He was on his way to leave the unconscious ninja alone but found himself staring at the limb hero.

His brown hair had already started losing its usual spikiness, swaying from his low hanging head. His breathing had slowed the moment his body went limp, from the quick, ragged breaths he had been letting out just moments before to the slow and steady breaths he gave off now.

Without meaning to, the ghost concluded that he liked seeing Kai in this helpless and controllable state that he had been ever since getting kidnapped.

And suddenly killing him seemed almost out of the question.

~~~~

With a war cry, Nya sent the now twentieth training dummy to its end as she broke it in half.

"You do realize we still need those to train, right?"

The female turned to the doorway where Cole leaned against the doorway, a cold yet worried look on his face.

She let out a growl, turning away from him and towards the next dummy for her to break, "I don't care. As long as my brother is in the hands of that monster I'll break how many of them as I need to, eventually one of them will be Morro's face."

"Nya….." The earth master sighed and stood up before walking over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "You're not the only one who's worried about him, we all are. But destroying training dummies and hurting your fists isn't going to get him out of Morro's hands quicker."

"I'm aware." _Another growl, guess the bad temper runs in the family_ , Cole thought to himself as he let out another sigh.

"How do you think I feel? It was my fault Kai left the ship that night, my fault he was out there on his own. You're not the only one hurt by his kidnapping."

Nya's body relaxed and she turned to her friend, sighing, "You're right. Sorry, I just. I'm so angry and worried."

"I'm not surprised, but you can't let it get to your head. We need everyone's minds present and clear if we're going to find a way to save him."

~~~~

After five days, the ninjas were starting to lose their composure. No word from either Morro or their missing teammate followed by no reported sightings of either of them left the heroes without any leads, and it was eating away at their hope.

Their home didn't feel the same without their hothead. The bounty was awfully quiet without Kai's explosive outburst at Jay whenever he decided to pull a prank on the brunet. Without Kai's burning determination during training punching the dummies felt almost pointless.

**Nothing** felt right without Kai.

It was on the fifth day's late evening when the ninjas came home from another day of searching for their kidnapped teammate that they got the feeling something was off.

And it didn't take long before Zane found something that made that feeling grow.

"Is that blood?" Jay nervously questioned the trail of dark spots that lead inside the ship.

The nindroid nodded slowly, "It seems that way. The question is, why is it here?"

"And why does it lead into the ship?" Cole added, walking towards the door cautiously, the others following closely behind him.

The blood trail led the ninjas to the medical room where it entered the room before going out again. It seemed like the one guilty of the blood trail had grabbed one of the first aid kits. And that they knew exactly where they were judging by the rather straight trail and lack of larger blood puddles as a sign of them not staying still for long.

Continuing with following the trail as it left the medical room they soon found themselves outside the larger of their two bathrooms.

The door was shut and no noise came from the other side but it was clear that whoever it was on their ship with them was inside as the blood trail didn't go away from the room.

With a deep breath, Zane grabbed the door handle and opened the door, but he quickly froze in the doorway as he gazed into the room.

"Zane? What's wro-" The water ninja had no time to finish the sentence before the ice master rushed into the room and towards the sink.

The ninjas now had a clear view of the room and couldn't help but stop and stare as their gazes fell on what Zane had reacted to.

The things contained in the first aid kit were scattered over the floor by the sink, most of it having been used. A bloody towel hung over the edge of the sink itself and the mirror was shattered, leaving sharp pieces scattering over the room.

But none of that was what had made the ninjas stop.

Sitting rather weekly upright on the floor next to the sink, head almost hanging over his shoulder as he barely kept eye contact with the nindroid that was trying to get a response out of him, was their hotheaded brunet.

The upper part of his gi was gone and his bare stomach was wrapped in gauze, blood staining it near his right side. One of his arms had a nasty wound that looked a bit infected while the other was bruised in a few places. Both his hands were bloody and had cuts on them which gave room for the assumption that Kai had punched the mirror, cutting up his hands.

His skin was pale and his hair had since long ago lost its spikiness, some of it was also stained with blood, which together with the blood running down the right side of Kai's face pointed to him having a wound on his head somewhere.

"Kai! Look at me!" Zane begged, going between looking over Kai's injuries and trying to get him to respond so they could know if he was aware of his surroundings.

"No! Don't you dare close your eyes! I need you to look at me, Kai!" The other ninjas finally snapped out of their trance and rushed to help.

"Jay, Nya, go get a cold wet towel, some painkillers, and a glass of water." The two ninjas were soon out of the room.

Lloyd turned to Zane who was telling Cole to try and keep Kai from closing his eyes before starting to examine the wound on his arm closer.

"How's he looking?"

"Not very well. He's lost a lot of blood and has an infection, and it's causing him to have a fever, which we need to try to lower before we can let him even close his eyes." A slight pause, "Can you hand me the rest of the gauze and antiseptic."

The blond handed him the things before returning to staring at his best friend with worry written on his face.

Nya and Jay came back and handed Zane the things he had asked for. After putting the towel on Kai's forehead, he asked that someone would try to make him take the painkillers. Cole quickly took the task.

But when he went to offer them to the brunet, the fire master weakly narrowed his eyes and mumbled, "I d...n't….fckin need those……"

"And why is that, you stubborn idiot?" The master of earth shot back.

"Not…..n...pain…."

"But you have a fever, so at least drink the water."

Kai made a noise of disapproval but weakly took the glass anyway and gulped the liquid down before giving the glass back to Cole.

His eyes started closing, but when Zane poured some of the antiseptics on the wound on his arms, Kai's eyes opened wide again and he suddenly had the energy to snatch his arm out of the nindroid's grip and then move closer to the sink in an attempt to get away from the ice elemental.

"Kai, I need to take care of your wound before the infection gets worse."

"Don't fucking touch me. I don't need your help."

"Yes you do, so stop being stupid and let me help you." Zane reached his hands out towards the brunet.

"Get thE FUCK AW **AY FROM ME**!" A pressure wave of flames seemingly exploded from the fire ninja, forcing the nindroid to move away. The fire died down as quickly as it had appeared and left burn marks on the sink and wall around Kai.

The heroes stared in shock at their teammate who was now grabbing at his hair, eyes shut tightly.

"Kai, please calm down. We're trying to help you."

The brunet let out a laugh, "Oh really?" He opened his eyes and glared at the others, "Well you all did a great fucking job with that, now did you? Five fucking days since……" He suddenly trailed off, terror making its way onto his face.

Lloyd slowly moved towards the red ninja, "Kai…..What happened with Morro?"

The name appeared to have a negative effect on the fire elemental as he froze when it reached his ears, his already pale skin got paler and his breath started to shake.

"Kai-"

"No! Stop, just….Stop….You won't have to worry about….him, anymore. He's no longer anything you should be concerned about. So just…..drop it…...please."

"But how? Why would he not be a concern to us any-"

"It doesn't fucking matter why!" Kai practically roared, "He's not a thing to worry about anymore, so juST FU **CKING DROP IT!** " His eyes flashed to a glowing red color for a quick moment before returning to normal.

"What happened to your voice and eyes, why do they keep flaring up like that? And how for that matter?"

The brunet gave the earth master a confused and cold look that slowly softened as Kai's body grew weak again and he could feel himself slipping away from his aware, awakened state.

Zane didn't stop him from closing his eyes, "His fever is low enough, so we can allow him to rest. But it seems we have other things to worry about now."

"What does he mean that 'Morro's not a concern'?! He kidnapped him, and we should just forget he exists?!" Nya held her worried eyes on her brother.

"One would assume, by what he said, that Kai defeated Morro by himself, but somehow, I doubt that." Zane hummed quietly, "Cole, could you help me move him to the med-bay? Treating his infection would be much easier there."

The master of earth nodded and gently picked up the brunet before following the nindroid towards the medical room.

The three remaining ninjas all shared a look before heading to the living room where Cole soon joined them.

Nya and Jay each took a seat on the couch while Cole sat down in one of the armchairs and Lloyd sat on the armrest of the other.

Silence hung over them for a while, Jay being the one that ended up breaking it.

"Am I the only one that notices something wrong with Kai, other than his injuries?"

A beat passed before someone responded, that person being Cole, "No, it's obvious that something's off about him, but it's too soon to jump to any conclusions. He went through something bad and it most likely affected his mental state. But we can't know how big of an effect that is or how bad it is just yet. He could be fine in a week or two, or it could take months before he is his old self again, we don't know."

"I wish we did, though, it'd make things easier." Lloyd sighed, "But seeing as that's not the case, all we can do is try to be there for him and try not to make any wrong moves that could trigger anything."

"So…." Nya trailed off, "What's our first course of action?"

The green ninja stood up, "Finding Morro and making him pay for what he's done to Kai."


	4. Wu cares about his students

Sixteen hours after Kai had been found in the bathroom, Sensei Wu returned from his trip. After getting the rundown on what had happened, he and Zane went to the Med-bay to check up on the fire elemental.

"You've been awfully quiet, Zane….Is something bothering you?"

The nindroid looked up at the older man, only to look away again, "It's something about Kai."

The sensei's expression hardened, "What do you mean?"

Sighing, Zane started walking quicker, "It's better if I show you."

They entered the room and Wu's eyes fell on his student, taking in all the signs of injury that was in his view, and he felt his legs growing weak.

"I should've been here….."

Zane shook his head, "It wouldn't have changed anything, sensei. It is rather safe to assume Morro had planned to target Kai specifically anyway. So even if you had stopped Kai from leaving the ship that night, Morro would still have grabbed him at any moment when he would have been alone."

The sensei sighed once more, "I appreciate your words, Zane." But I still should have been here. Silence hung in the air for a moment before Wu spoke up again, "Now, what did you want to show me?"

Suddenly looking a bit uneasy, the white ninja walked up to Kai lying on the bed in the room. He gently turned him over to his side and pointed to the back of the brunet's shoulder.

Wu's blood turned to ice when he saw what his student had wanted him to see.

The letter M was visible on Kai's skin. It looked as though it had been cut into the skin only for someone to later brand the wound with the same letter.

Wu motioned for Zane to turn Kai over again, not able to handle the sight of the wound anymore.

"Have you told the others?" Zane shook his head and Wu nodded. "Good, I hate to imagine how they would react to something like this. Unfortunately, as his family, they deserve to know."

"Do you want me to tell them?...."

"No," The older man shook his head, "As much as you've made it clear that I shouldn't blame myself for what happened, I still feel as though it is my responsibility to help you all in this hard time. And if that means telling the others myself in order to ease the weight on your shoulders, then so be it."

Zane did nothing but nod as he and his teacher left the room.

When they entered the living room, four pairs of eyes turned towards them. Almost as if the ninjas could feel the aura around the newly arrived pair, they all stood up and walked up to them.

Wu sighed, "My ninjas, there's no easy way to say this…." He trailed off and took a deep breath before continuing, "Morro has cut and branded an M onto Kai's skin…..And there's no doubt it's going to be a permanent scar….."

The four ninjas stared at their sensei, almost not believing what they had just been told.

"I'm going to murder that bastard!" Nya eventually growled. The other three appeared to have thought the same thing.

"First we need to find out where he went while also doing our best to help Kai recover. I suspect he's going to insist that he's fine even when he's not, so I need you all to keep a close eye on him for now."

A couple of hours later, Nya, Jay, and Zane were out on a search for the ghost that had kidnapped their friend while also explaining to the other people who had helped the search for Kai that he was back home. Which left Lloyd, Cole, and Sensei Wu back at the bounty to look after Kai.

Two of them were in the living room while Cole was in the training room, smashing some dummies.

Sighing, Lloyd turned to his uncle, "Do you think Kai's going to be alright? I'm worried about what Morro might have done to him…"

"I am also worried about him, but Kai is strong. He will be able to get up from this, all we have to do is make sure he does not try to rush his recovery."

The blond stood up, "I'm gonna go check if he's awake," And then left the room.

When he came into the med-bay, he found the brunet sitting on the bed they left him on. He had put on a red t-shirt and held a black, hooded sweatshirt in his hand. His arms rested on his knees, the clothing in his hand hanging over the floor. He was staring at his free hand as if it was mocking him.

"I'm glad you're awake." The red ninja's head snapped towards the door, his expression softening slightly when he realized who it was that stood there.

He slowly turned his head forward towards the floor and scoffed, "I know you all want me to rest instead of being up and about, don't even try to deny it."

Lloyd sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down next to the fire elemental, "Yeah….We do, but it's because we care about you and know that you tend to lie about how hurt you really are to not make us worry. Which is why we're asking you to actually rest and let your injuries heal instead of pushing your body to its limits."

Kai remained silent, turning away from Lloyd, "I'm not pushing my body to its limits, you guys are just worried over nothing."

Without thinking, the blond grabbed the red ninja's shoulders and turned him to face him. "Kai! You got fucking kidnapped by a ghost that has tried to destroy all of Ninjago in the past, and you're saying we're not supposed to be worried!?"

The brunet shrugged, "Pretty much, yeah, because he did practically nothing to me. The wounds on my arm and my side are because of him, and some of the bruises, the rest I got by my own stupidity and anger. So It's my own fault."

"He still hurt you, Kai! It doesn't matter if it was just two wounds and a few bruises, he still hurt you. And that's more than enough reason for us to worry about him."

Kai shook Lloyd's hands off his shoulders and turned back forward, his hands laying in his lap as he clenched them tightly into fists, but he didn't say a word.

"Kai….I'm worried about your safety. And I….." The blond trailed off, unsure if he really should tell the brunet how he felt about the whole kidnapping thing.

"You're blaming yourself for it, aren't you?" The green ninja stared at the fire elemental who turned his head slightly towards him, letting a silent question hang in the air. One which Kai picked up on, "I heard what he said to you over the phone that day, and I also know you, so of course I knew you were going to blame yourself for my kidnapping, if not fully then at least at second place after Morro himself."

"I…..I just…..He said it was because I care about you more than most other people….so how could it not be my fault?"

"Because caring about someone isn't something you should be feeling guilty over, and it's not something to blame yourself over. Caring about others is a good thing, it just so happens that bad people sometimes take advantage of that. This isn't anything you can be blamed for."

Lloyd let out a quiet chuckle and smiled sadly at his best friend, "How come you always know what to say to make me feel better? Do you have two elemental powers or something?"

The brunet chuckled as well, turning his head even more towards his best friend, "No, it's just that I sometimes feel like you do, and Nya often tried to talk some sense into me, sometimes it helped, other times, not really. So I understand how you're feeling, and if it's going to take some time for you to realize that you really can't be blamed for this, then that's okay."

The green ninja let out a sigh and then smiled, "Thank you, Kai. For everything."

Kai ruffled the blond's hair and chuckled, "No worries greenie, I'm just happy to help."

Despite the brunet's smile and amused tone, Lloyd knew something was off. There was something that Kai wasn't telling him, something that really bothered the fire elemental. Something….

Something that happened while he was Morro's captive.

"Hey….Kai….are you sure you're okay? I know you have said that you are, but I get the feeling you're lying….You can trust me you know…."

His best friend fell silent, his smile fading away as he turned his head away once again. He suddenly rose to his feet, almost immediately falling to the floor as his legs gave out under him.

Lloyd was quickly by his side, helping him sit up, "You're such an idiot, you're not supposed to be walking yet."

"I walked to get this t-shirt and the hoodie, why would now be any different?" The brunet growled, placing a hand to his forehead as if trying to get rid of a headache.

"I don't know, but apparently it is. Are you alright, you didn't hit your head or anything?"

"I'm...fine! Just, a little dizzy." The fire ninja forced out, his expression tightening, clearly from pain or discomfort.

But Lloyd knew that bothering him more about his well being would only anger him further, so he remained from it. "How about we head to the living room, as long as you're careful it should be fine, and I would guess you'd rather be there than here."

Kai nodded, "Yeah….I hate being in here, so that would be preferred." He slowly tried to get to his feet, Lloyd helping him to some extent. After putting on the sweatshirt, the brunet put his arm around his friend's shoulders, knowing he'd fall over again without support by how his legs felt like they were going to give out again.

"Are the others here?" The red ninja quietly asked as they walked towards the living room.

"Only Sensei, Cole, and us. The others are out searching for Morro, as well as informing those who were helping with the search for you that you're back."

Kai nodded slightly, a blank expression on his face.

"Did you not want to see them?"

"It's not that, but I just don't want the sudden attention I would get. I remember how you all got last time I got more than just a few scratches on a mission and I'd be lying if I said I like all that attention from you all."

"Right, it's easy to forget how your opinion on attention can flip like a switch without any warning." Lloyd rolled his eyes slightly, thinking back on Kai was back when they first got famous. 

The brunet said nothing, but it was clear that something in his mood had changed by the comment, but how? Lloyd couldn't tell.

When they entered the living room, Wu gave Kai a concerned look. "I'm glad to see you on your feet again, but I really think you should take it easy and rest."

The brunet rolled his eyes and sat down in the armchair, his legs hanging over one armrest while his back rested against the other, "I know all of you think that." He crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to meet Wu's eyes. After a moment he spoke up again, "How was your trip?"

Lloyd, who was now sitting on the couch on the side closest to Kai turned to his uncle, "You never told us what the trip was for anyway, so what was it?"

Wu took a sip of tea, which he most likely made while Lloyd was talking to Kai, and hummed, "My trip was one of meditating. Feelings of disconnection to the world had started to cloud my mind so I went on a trip to try and reconnect myself with Ninjago. However, if I had known of the danger that would befall you all in my absence, I would have never left." He glanced at the brunet who quickly looked away from meeting his eyes.

"Kai….I'm sorry for not being here to stop what happened to you. You never deserved what Morro did to you."

Something about the second sentence made the red ninja snap. He turned to the old man, his eyes flashed to the glowing state, that they had appeared in several hours earlier in the bathroom. "That's bullshit!" He sat up straight, and got to his feet, looking like he was still having some trouble staying standing.

For a moment, nothing was said between the three, the only thing keeping silence from suffocating the air was a few panting breaths from Kai as he started to calm down from his outburst, the glow in his eyes fading away.

With a deep breath, he spoke up again, "I'm going to my room. I need some time alone." Placing his hands in the pockets of the hoodie, he walked towards the door leading towards the ninjas‘ rooms. He still seemed to be about to fall over, but with every step, his stance grew more steady until he was almost walking normally.

He passed the training room on his way but paid no attention to the signs that his black-haired teammate was in that room and walked past the door.

Entering his own bedroom, he wasted no time locking the door before lying down on his bed, facing the wall.

"Aww, is the hothead angry? How sad."

**Author's Note:**

> So, I decided to post this rewrite on here as well seeing as it received a lot of positive response. But also because I have concluded that AO3 lacks this kind of content in the Ninjago tag, so I'd thought I'd share my contribution to this type of fanfics.


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